Anti-Catholic prejudice faded as Catholics joined whites in opposing racial equality

Evidence

By the closing decades of the twentieth century, young white Protestants could read the shifting attitudes about Catholics in the generational differences among their relatives. Grandparents thought of Catholicism as a dangerous foreign import, a papist cult that was unchristian and incompatible with democracy. Parents thought of Catholics as an outmoded but tolerable offshoot of the Christian family tree. And the youngest generation came to see them as just another “denomination” of white Christians—and one that was an important source of political reinforcement for battles being waged on two fronts: resistance to demands for black equality and opposition to the women’s movement and the gay rights movement. — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long, 38

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier reading on moral panics over dress/social signaling and to whiteness-as-constructed literature (e.g., the “becoming white” scholarship on Irish and Italians). — connects to: Catholic clergy organized white resistance to integrated housing in Detroit — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 196; Catholic bishops shifted resources to white suburban parishes while abandoning black inner-city churches — Robert P. Jones, White Too Long: The Legacy of White…, 197; White support for racial equality rose while Allport-style prejudice supposedly eroded — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 658
• ADDENDUM: Parallel to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ piece’s theme of racial/religious outgroups being absorbed into dominant identity as politics shift.

Broader Connections

• White support for racial equality rose while Allport-style prejudice supposedly eroded #corroborates (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 658